Final Reminder: ACHEWOOD SIGNING TUES NOV 4TH @ THE BEGUILING

THE GREAT OUTDOOR FIGHT SIGNING!
Feat. Chris Onstad, creator of Achewood
@ The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. 7pm
FREE

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=30518973349

The Beguiling will be welcoming Chris Onstad, creator of the online comic strip Achewood (http://achewood.com), to his exclusive Toronto tour stop in support of his new book The Great Outdoor Fight.

Since 2001, cult comic favorite Achewood has built a six-figure international following. Intelligent, hilarious, and for adults, it’s quickly become the favourite comic of tens of thousands of people around the world. Dark Horse has published the hardbound edition of Achewood’s most popular storyline, The Great Outdoor Fight: “Three Days, Three Acres, Three Thousand Men.”

Awards for Achewood:

  • TIME Magazine’s #1 Graphic Novel of 2007.
  • Ignatz Award, “Outstanding Online Comic,” 2007.

Praise for Achewood:

  • “Onstad’s Achewood is a rare bird…”Salon.com
  • “…one of the best outcomes of this Internet blitz is the hilarious Web comic Achewood, by Chris Onstad.” The New Yorker
  • “Onstad is our greatest living cartoonist.” Tony Millionaire (Maakies, Sock Monkey)
  • “These things are hilarious! You have what the NY Times Book Review might call a ‘distinctive and most welcome voice’ in comics.” -Jim Woodring (Frank, Jim)
  • “Achewood makes me laugh–in that confused, ‘what the hell was that??’ kind of way.” -Scott McCloud

The Beguiling is planning a few special surprises for this event, falling as it does on the evening of the U.S. Presidential Elections, so that everyone can follow along with the results while they’re at the event! Stay tuned for more…!

The Great Outdoor Fight is currently available in store and online.

Also: There will be an awesome, exclusive t-shirt available only at this event.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Shipping November 5th, 2008

The following books are scheduled to ship to The Beguiling in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday November 5th, 2008. Click here to see the list: /081105-shipping.txt

Please note: All prices are listed in U.S. funds, which is not necessarily how they’ll be priced in store. See the next few posts, or in-store, for details.

The Beguiling Recommends:


Sandman Dream Hunters #1 (Of 4) 2.99

Sandman Dream Hunters #1 (Of 4) Var Ed 25.00
Absolute Sandman HC Vol 04 99.00

It’s like 1988 all over again, as this week sees the release of a new Sandman comic book! Sandman: The Dream Hunters #1 is P. Craig Russell’s adaptation of the illustrated prose story by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano into comics format. Speaking as someone who really, really likes Russell’s work, I thought his recent adaptation of Gaiman’s novel Coraline missed the mark a little, stylistically, but Russell’s work here is ideally suited to the graceful, haunting ghost story that Gaiman wove in Dream Hunters. I rather enjoyed Amano’s near-impressionist take on the story, but I have a feeling that even with a huge, huge order on this one we didn’t order nearly enough! Also of note: The fourth and final omnibus collection of the original series, collecting issues 57-75 and the Sandman story from Vertigo Jam #1.

Alans War GN 24.00
This graphic novel by Emmanuel Guibert is a remarkable work, a memoir of a life spent in the trenches fighting Hitler during the second World War. I hesitate to place too many superlatives on this one, but you really oughtta read it. It’s the kind of graphic novel that you can love, and then share with your dad afterwards, and he’ll love it too. Doesn’t come around too often.

For more on Alan’s War and author Emmanuel Guibert check out this very emphatic review of the graphic novel by Cory Doctrow at BoingBoing, and last week’s most amazing internet video, a view of how Guibert creates the unique art for this series via the First Second Books weblog.

Oh! And also of note, Guibert’s series for young readers Sardine in Outer Space reaches its sixth volume this week as well!

Freakangels Tp Vol 01 19.99
This is a new series by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield, originally serialized online and now collected in a lovely book. Is it webcomics? Traditional comics serialized online? A bold new publishing idea? Who knows? from what I’ve read though, it’s quite good. http://www.freakangels.com/.

Watchmen HC 39.99
Watchmen The Absolute Edition HC (New Printing) 75.00

Watching The Watchmen: Previews Exclusive Hardcover 50.00

Speaking of 1988 all over again, that’s a lotta Watchmen. We’ve got the original Watchmen all gussied-up in a fancy hardcover edition, we’ve got a new printing of the even-fancier Absolute Edition, and the all-new retrospective book Watching The Watchmen, featuring hundreds of unseen drawings and illustrations by Dave Gibbons.

Essential Dykes To Watch Out For HC 25.00
For those who enjoyed Alison Bechdel’s recent extended autobiography Fun Home, we’re finally able to provide you with a nice collection of her earlier (and still ongoing!) work Dykes To Watch Out For. This hefty hardcover volume collects many of the series’ best-loved strips, and will definitely appeal to fans old and new.

Also of Note:

Ultimatum #1 (Of 5) 3.99 November 5-November 11, only 2 Bucks!
For the last 2 years Marvel has been teasing that they’re going to destroy the “Ultimate Universe”, the continuity-light version of the mainstream Marvel U ostensibly designed for “new readers”. This is the series that they say they’re going to do it in. Magneto gets Thor’s hammer and fucks shit up, in the modern vernacular. For the first week we’re offering the first issue of the mini for just $2.00, Canadian funds. It’s a pretty good deal, if you like that sort of thing.

Popeye HC Vol 03 Lets You And Him Fight 29.99
The third collection of classic Popeye comic strips, which are much better reads than you could possibly imagine.

48 More Ashley Wood Nudes SC 14.99
Dos Tarino Latest Art By Ashley Wood SC 35.00

Two new books from Ashley Wood, and not just ‘clever’ repackaging of existing books by Ashley Wood, which is a real rarity!

Sgt Rock The Lost Battalion #1 (Of 6) 2.99
A very personal story to creator Billy Tucci (yeah, I know, SHI, but bear with me here…) about a battalion of Japanese soldiers fighting for the allies during WWII, who encounter Sgt. Rock. On the one hand, it’s kind of sad that for DC to bother publishing a story like this the Sgt. Rock character needs to be involved… Alan’s War up top shows that need not be the case elsewhere. On the other hand, everything I’ve heard about this series leads me to believe it will be at least really interesting, and perhaps at best even a pretty good war story in the vein of Garth Ennis’ recent work.


Giant Robot #56 4.99

It’s almost like this magazine exists just for me, and my interests. This issue: “Folding art of Shin Tanaka, Homeless in Tokyo, Back in Beijing, Graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo, CSS’s Luisa Matsushita, Skater Daniel Castillo, Big Bamboo and much much more!” Whee! Image excerpt from Giant Robot #56 cover by “Kami”.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

New T-Shirts In Stock…!

Just in time for Halloween? We’ve just stocked a ton of fantastic new shirts based on the webcomics Dinosaur Comics, Dr. McNinja, and Wigu, as well as shirts from Canadian cartoonists Matt Forsythe and Kate Beaton. Granted, we already have a ton of different shirts from many of these fine folks in stock, but these new designs (and new designs for us) are awesome and we’ve been getting a ton of requests.

Here’s all the new stuff we’ve received today, both designs and available sizes. If your size is not listed in a given design, it was probably back-ordered, and we will (hopefully) receive it about a month from now:

Dinosaur Comics

Mr Tusks MENS
S, M, L, XL, XXL

Mr Tusks WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

Because of the nature of the Dinosaur Comics comic strip, Mr. Tusks has never been visible until today. You see, he is a tiny elephant mayor, and his ship is sinking fast. Trust me, it’s great.

T-Rex’s Busy Day MENS
L, XL, XXL

T-Rex’s Busy Day WOMENS
S, L, XL

This is the newest design from Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics. It’s pretty fantastic huh? You can visit Dinosaur Comics online at http://www.qwantz.com/. (T-Rex’s Busy Day shirt image above, right)

(Posterchild)

I’d Hit That MENS
S, M, L, XL, XXL

I’d Hit That WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

This was our most popular shirt at Anime North this year by a ratio of more than 2 to 1. Sometimes, a t-shirt just works. By Toronto’s own street-artist Posterchild. Fun-fact: This t-shirt inspired a crime, sort of?

Dr. McNinja

High Five MENS
S, M, L, XL, XXL

High Five WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

What could be more awesome than this? Nothing. Nothing could be more awesome than this.

Terror Shirt MENS
S, M, L, XL, XXL

Terror Shirt WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

What could possibly be scarier than this? Nothing. Nothing could be scarier than this. (Terror Shirt Image is at the top of this page.)

Visit Dr. McNinja at http://drmcninja.com/.

WIGU

New American Symbol MENS
S, M, L, XL, XXL

New American Symbol WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

If you get this shirt, then you REALLY get this shirt. If not? You will likely be angry at this shirt. Fair enough. Inspired by the true-life webcomics journal of Jeffrey Rowland, at Overcompensating. http://overcompensating.com/

Existentialists do it Pointlessly MENS
S, M, L, XL

Existentialists do it Pointlessly WOMENS
S, M, L, XL

Oh, Existentialists. Between this and the ‘Philosophers Do It Ponderously’ shirt, we’ve clothed a lot of very amused University students in the past few years.

Matt Forsythe’s Ojingogo

Ojingogo MENS
L, XL

Ojingogo WOMENS
S, M

We had a pretty awesome signing for Mr. Forsythe a few months back, and had I been thinking, I would have had these shirts available for sale at the store then. I was not thinking, though, and so I did not. Still! They’re available now, mostly! Sorry. Ojingogo online at http://comingupforair.net/

Kate Beaton

Reading is Crazy MENS
S, L, XL

Reading is Crazy WOMENS
S, M, XL

Have you been reading Katie Beaton’s History Comics? They’re pretty awesome. This one is not about history, it is about the joy of reading. The emphatic, emphatic joy of reading. Check out Kate Beaton’s awesome comics online at http://www.katebeaton.com,

Thanks to our good pals at TOPATO CO. for shipping everything to us in a timely fashion. If you can’t make it to The Beguiling to pick up any of these shirts, visit http://www.topatoco.com/ and place an order there. Oh, and if you ever require a shirt that we don’t have that is offered by Topato Co, just let us know and we’ll order it in for you.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

New Viz Manga, Bat-Manga Ltd. Ed. HC, Big Questions 11

Hello readers!

We’re happy to announce that two very cool books have shown up in store.


BAT-MANGA! The Secret History of Batman in Japan Signed Hardcover
By Chip Kidd, Geoff Spear, Saul Ferris. Manga by Jiro Kuwata.

(Softcover Also Available)


Big Questions #11
by Anders Nilsen

(Image stolen from D&Q Blog)

Also, we got a whole bunch of new Viz Manga ahead of the Diamond shipment, all of the Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat titles, it looks like:

B.O.D.Y. Vol 3
Black Cat Vol 17
Captive Hearts Vol 1
Claymore Vol 13
D.Gray-Man Vol 11
Dragon Ball Collector’s Ed. Hardcover Vol 1
Dragon Ball Z Collector’s Ed. Hardcover Vol 1
Fairy Cube Vol 3
Fun With Pokemon
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden Vol 7
Gin Tama Vol 9
High School Debut Vol 6
Hunter x Hunter Vol 23
Kaze Hikaru Vol 11
Kurohime Vol 8
Love*Com Vol 9
Nana Vol 13
Naruto Vol 32
Naruto Chapterbook 3
Naruto Chapterbook 4
Naruto The Movie Ani-Manga Vol 2
Naruto The Movie Ani-Manga Vol 3
Ouran High School Host Club Vol 11
S.A. Vol 7
Shaman King Vol 19
Skip Beat! Vol 15
Sugar Princess Skating To Win Vol 2
The Prince of Tennis Vol 28
Ultimate Muscle Vol 21
We Were There Vol 1
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Vol 2

TODAY: SHAUN TAN AT THE BEGUILING

TODAY!

Shaun Tan Signing
In Support of his new book, Tales from Outer Suburbia
Tuesday, October 28th, 5pm-7pm
@ The Beguiling,
601 Markham Street, Toronto
FREE

The Beguiling is proud to welcome Australia’s Shaun Tan to Toronto, on tour for his new book Tales from Outer Suburbia. Despite being an accomplished and award-winning illustrator, Tan first came to the attention of graphic novel fans around the world for his epic, wordless graphic novel The Arrival.

Tales from Outer Suburbia is a fascinating hybrid storybook and graphic novel, showcasing Tan’s gorgeous art through prose, comics, and gorgeous full-page illustrations. A collection of short stories to be enjoyed by readers from 6 to 60, Tales from Outer Suburbia is exactly the sort of book that could become anyone’s favourite.

With The Arrival receiving incredible international acclaim, including being picked as The Comic Journal’s best graphic novel of 2007, we’re sure that Tan’s visit to Toronto is eagerly anticipated.

The Beguiling would like to thank Tundra Books for their assistance with this signing.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Shipping October 29th, 2008

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship to The Beguiling in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday October 29th, 2008. Click Here for the list:

Here’s our picks for the week: 081029-shipping.txt

AUG084007 Acme Novelty Library Hc #19 15.95
SEP083988 Ojingogo Gn 14.95

SEP083685 Venice Chronicles Hc 19.95

We’ve already mentioned these three fantastic releases on the blog, and all three of them are currently in-stock at the store, but we just wanted to make sure you knew about’em. All three are pretty fantastic, albeit in different ways, and I’ve personally bought all three. So, you know, there’s a recommendation.

AUG084553 Bat Manga Secret History Of Batman In Japan Sc 29.95
As those of you who scan your eyes right will realize, Chip Kidd, the editor and assembler of this book will be at The International Festival of Authors this weekend discussing this book. It’s a pretty amazing collection of rare comics, all assembled in the typical, beautifully over-the-top, Chip Kidd fashion. Money well spent.

SEP084041 Bourbon Island 1730 Gn 17.95
A new graphic novel from Trondheim! Good week!

AUG080012 Hellboy In The Chapel Of Moloch One Shot 2.99
It’s a brand-new Hellboy issue, entirely written and drawn by Mike Mignola. This will lead into the next six issue mini-series by Mignola and Duncan Fegredo.

AUG080233 Kill Your Boyfriend New Ptg 5.99
The out-of-print and difficult to find one-shot by Grant Morrison and Phil Bond is available again? But who knows for how long, sigh. Seriously, if you’ve never read this one it’s a hoot.

SEP084185 Tintin Hardcover Boxed Set (Res) 150.00
Every Tintin volume for 150 bucks? Plus a bonus book? Sounds like a steal.

Also of Note:

SEP084516 Akiba Manga Guide To Akihabara 19.95
Might be fun, might be awful. I’ll be giving it a look to see which.

JUL080231 Batman Death Mask Collected Edition 9.99
The original Batman Manga by the creator of Keikaishi.

JUN080058 Empowered Tp Vol 04 14.95
If you’ve never read Empowered, but you’re a fan of superheroes (or specifically not a fan of superheroes, too) it’s pretty darned good.

JUL080124 Joker Hc 19.99
The much-reviewed, much-asked about Joker story that will likely be enjoyed by fans of the recent Batman film.

AUG082260 Kick Drum Comix #2 (Of 2) 5.99
I feel like a lot of people missed this one, last month. It’s a series of short stories by Jim Mahfood, former TCAF guest. We’ve still got plenty of the first issue available too, check it out.

Meanwhile, new Previews and Wizard this week, for those of you interested.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Enrico Casarosa’s VENICE CHRONICLES now in stock!

Look what we got! It’s advance copies of the fantastic new graphic novel “The Venice Chronicles” by Pixar Animator and SketchCrawl founder Enrico Casarosa. It’s co-published by our good friends at AdHouse Books and it is, as you might hope, an entirely beautiful book. Original Hardcover, glued-and-sewn binding, beautiful matte reproduction. I am so buying this.

From the AdHouse site:

The Venice Chronicles – a travelogue in pencil, watercolor and varying shades of silliness. Hardcover, 144 full-color pages, by Pixar artist Enrico Casarosa. Take a stroll through the side streets and canals of Venice in this colorful graphic novel, meeting at the intersection between Carnet De Voyage and Love Story.
US Funds $19.95. (We’ll be charging the U.S. Cover Price.)

So good.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

UPDATE: Achewood Signing November 4th!

THE GREAT OUTDOOR FIGHT SIGNING!
Feat. Chris Onstad, creator of Achewood
@ The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. 7pm
FREE

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=30518973349

The Beguiling will be welcoming Chris Onstad, creator of the online comic strip Achewood (http://achewood.com), to his exclusive Toronto tour stop in support of his new book The Great Outdoor Fight.

Since 2001, cult comic favorite Achewood has built a six-figure international following. Intelligent, hilarious, and for adults, it’s quickly become the favourite comic of tens of thousands of people around the world. Dark Horse has published the hardbound edition of Achewood’s most popular storyline, The Great Outdoor Fight: “Three Days, Three Acres, Three Thousand Men.”

Awards for Achewood:

  • TIME Magazine’s #1 Graphic Novel of 2007.
  • Ignatz Award, “Outstanding Online Comic,” 2007.

Praise for Achewood:

  • “Onstad’s Achewood is a rare bird…”Salon.com
  • “…one of the best outcomes of this Internet blitz is the hilarious Web comic Achewood, by Chris Onstad.” The New Yorker
  • “Onstad is our greatest living cartoonist.” Tony Millionaire (Maakies, Sock Monkey)
  • “These things are hilarious! You have what the NY Times Book Review might call a ‘distinctive and most welcome voice’ in comics.” -Jim Woodring (Frank, Jim)
  • “Achewood makes me laugh–in that confused, ‘what the hell was that??’ kind of way.” -Scott McCloud

The Beguiling is planning a few special surprises for this event, falling as it does on the evening of the U.S. Presidential Elections, so that everyone can follow along with the results while they’re at the event! Stay tuned for more…!

The Great Outdoor Fight is currently available in store and online.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Buffy Comics Update

Hello folks. We realize that many of our newest regular customers have started shopping at the store thanks to Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic book adaptation. Welcome to The Beguiling! We’ve been happy to sell you these comics! But, as we feared, the series has slipped off schedule, with the first-Wednesday-of-every-month ship date for October being missed.

Even though it wasn’t, you know, our fault, we’re still quite sorry about this. Because we want you to have your Buffy comics. And to keep enjoying your Buffy comics for what I hope will be years to come.

Well, Dark Horse Comics has released an updated schedule for the next few issues, and we’re happy to let you know that the next issue of Buffy will be out in just a few more weeks.

Here is the ultra-revised, updated Buffy schedule:

Issue #19, November 26The Time Of Your Life, Part 4 – The end of Buffy’s visit to the future to meet Fray, the last slayer.

Issue #20, December 17After These Messages… We’ll be right back! One-shot – Whatever became of the Buffy Animated Series? A glimpse of what might have been acts as an epilogue to the time-travel storyline.

Issue #21, January 7 Harmonic Divergence Part One – Harmony is back.

After that, the book will return to its first-week-of-the-month schedule. Thanks for your patience!

In other Buffy/Joss news:

FRAY: FUTURE SLAYER TRADE PAPERBACK is now in stock. Collecting Joss’ first comics work, this mini-series tells the tale of the last slayer, set hundreds of years in the future. $19.95.

BUFFY SEASON 8 VOLUME 3: WOLVES AT THE GATE TP arrives in store October 29th. It will be $15.95.
– We’ve got issues #1-18 of Buffy: Season 8 in stock, as well as the first two trade paperbacks, and all six Buffy Omnibus editions.

– Other Joss stuff in stock includes SERENITY: BETTER DAYS and SERENITY: THOSE LEFT BEHIND now in trade paperback, ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL VOL 1 & 2, Astonishing X-Men V1-4, Spike: After The Fall #1-4, and various issues of Angel: After The Fall.

– Chris @ The Beguiling